My Department was set up to drive the delivery of key commitments in relation to children and young people. The Department was established in June 2011 with a mandate to put in place a unified framework of policy, legislation and provision across Government in respect of children and young people.
The responsibilities of my Department encompass a wide range of policy and service activity, both direct and indirect, for children and young people in Ireland. It has a complex mandate, comprised of a number of separate, but interrelated strands including:
- the direct provision of a range of universal and targeted services;
- ensuring high-quality arrangements are in place for focused interventions dealing with child welfare and protection, family support, adoption, school attendance and reducing youth crime;
- the harmonisation of policy and provision across Government and with a wide range of stakeholders to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.
As outlined in my Department's Statement of Strategy, in order to achieve its goals, my Department works in close partnership with other Government departments, statutory agencies and non-governmental organisations on a range of cross-cutting issues in relation to both policy and provision as they relate to children and young people. The scope of this collaboration includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Department of Education and Skills (e.g. early childhood education, numeracy/literacy and skills development);
- Department of Justice and Equality (e.g. crime prevention, community sanctions, detention, diversion and equality);
- Department of Health (e.g. disability; health promotion, including nutrition and drugs policy);
- Health Service Executive (e.g. child welfare and protection, care and social services);
- Department of Social Protection (e.g. social inclusion, income support and the activation agenda);
- Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (e.g. employment creation and youth entrepreneurship);
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (e.g. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and Council of Europe measures);
- Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (e.g. initiatives involving sustainable development and communities).
While responsibility for support services for children with extra needs will remain with the Departments of Health and Education and Skills, as appropriate, my Department will continue to work closely with those Departments.
The 2013 estimate includes an allocation of €443m for my Department which represents an increase of €16m over the 2012 allocation and this clearly demonstrates the continuing commitment of this Government to the ongoing development of quality and effective services to support children and families.
